


i’ll see the veins of my city (like they do in space)

by voltemand



Category: Community (TV)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-07
Updated: 2020-09-07
Packaged: 2021-03-06 20:08:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 472
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26334661
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/voltemand/pseuds/voltemand
Summary: That has him thinking about Abed, thinking about what Abed would do and say. What references he would make. It’s 3 A.M. in LA; Abed needs his sleep; he needs Troy less. So he doesn’t call Abed, even though his phone is just in his pocket, a trigger ready to be pressed. A trap about to spring on an unsuspecting mouse, if mice were gleaming clouds of extraterrestrial nonsense. Abed, Troy thinks, would beat up every single alien for him.
Relationships: Troy Barnes/Abed Nadir
Comments: 4
Kudos: 30





	i’ll see the veins of my city (like they do in space)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [AnotherGayEllen](https://archiveofourown.org/users/AnotherGayEllen/gifts).



> Prompt: Trobed, “things you said when you thought I was asleep.”
> 
> Title from Lorde’s “Tennis Court.”

They aren’t green.

Troy had always thought that aliens would be green, or maybe purple. These ones are white, all white, shining like a snowy morning. They don’t have hands, exactly; they’re amorphous, fuzzy as TV static.

That has him thinking about Abed, thinking about what Abed would do and say. What references he would make. It’s 3 A.M. in LA; Abed needs his sleep; he needs Troy less. So he doesn’t call Abed, even though his phone is just in his pocket, a trigger ready to be pressed. A trap about to spring on an unsuspecting mouse, if mice were gleaming clouds of extraterrestrial nonsense. Abed, Troy thinks, would beat up every single alien for him.

 _Come with us_ , something says in Troy’s brain. It’s not his voice. Whoever this is, they purr.

 _Is this technically kidnapping?_ Troy thinks back. He’s not stupid; he knows how these things work. Be polite. Learn their freaky alien culture, maybe meet a freaky alien girl, and have freaky alien babies with her. Troy thinks he could probably withstand that. If he brought Abed, would that make it better? But Abed’s got his life, a long and winding road ahead of him, every step uncertain. Troy knows his place: wait for Abed at his rest stops, wipe the sweat off his brow, avert his eyes when Robin or Hilda or Rachel or whoever comes with a kiss for the returning hero.

Troy feels a laugh reverberate through his skull. It’s not an entirely unpleasant sound. _Do you want it to be?_

 _I’m not struggling_ , Troy responds. _It’s not a kidnapping._ Then he adds _How long are we going for?_ because he was gone for five years before, five long years of pirates and LeVar Burton and new cities, and he survived it. He sort of wants to survive it again.

The aliens wiggle. _Where we’re going_ , they say, sounding a little apologetic, like they’re speaking to a dumb little kid who doesn’t _get_ it, _time is irrelevant_.

He understands, or at least he thinks he does. Abed tried to explain this all to him once, something about wormholes and relativity and light, how it runs faster than anything. Space. Time. Inspectors and Constables, maybe. Abeds and Troys, a medium-sized infinity of them, across every timeline and every universe.

In some universe, Abed is here with him right now, facing down aliens and voices in his head. That’s a comforting thought, a lovely thought, so Troy keeps thinking it. In some universe, they’re together.

Here, though, they aren’t. Abed is asleep somewhere across the country; Troy is about to run away. “I love you,” he says aloud to the Abed in some timeline who's awake. _I know_ , he hears. Maybe it's from the aliens. Maybe he doesn't care.

_I'm ready _, Troy tells them.__

____

____

He is.

**Author's Note:**

> Yell with me on Tumblr at [withatalentforsquaddrill](https://withatalentforsquaddrill.tumblr.com) (for general bullshit) or [foresme](https://foresme.tumblr.com) (for fandom bullshit).


End file.
